


The Secret Journal of Agent Foxtrot 12

by JackTheBard



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-16
Updated: 2014-08-16
Packaged: 2018-02-13 10:23:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2147175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JackTheBard/pseuds/JackTheBard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One restless night, Church decides to help Carolina rest a little bit easier.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Secret Journal of Agent Foxtrot 12

Carolina was having a hard time sleeping.

She tossed, she turned, she rolled over so many times that Church lost count, because what the hell else was an AI supposed to do when he couldn’t sleep? AI weren’t meant to sleep. They were meant to keep an eye open so the living, breathing folks actually could get a decent night’s rest, and Carolina was having none of that.

Church knew why.

She was dreaming of the other Freelancers.

It was a strange thing, seeing the other Freelancers dancing through her mind so easily, so carefree, yet knowing that it brought her such pain. He only barely remembered them. The other fragments had fonder memories, especially Theta.

As if summoned, the little purple and blue kid with the skateboard popped up beside Church, and asked, “She’s having those bad dreams again, huh?”

“Yeah… Wish I could help make sense out of all of them.”

“She misses some more than others. Look.” His finger pointed up at the dreams playing through Carolina’s mind, “You barely see South or Wyoming… but you see the others a lot more. Especially him.” He pointed at a man in golden armor, standing with a pose that just made it seem like he was smiling.

Agent York.

A pang went through Church for a moment, almost like pain, but much less real, and he remembered. Memory was the key. Memory was the key…

He remembered when he followed Carolina to York’s final resting place, the scorch marks and the lighter on the ground. He remembered the message.

The end was different.

It didn’t truly end with his supposed private conversation with Delta. The one that ended with, “I should have told her… that I didn’t understand why she did what she did. I just wish she hadn’t… I wish she could have learned to let things go. I guess I should too.” From what Church could piece together, there was a lot more to it.

“Delta,” he said, calling the green man to his side.

“Yes, Epsilon?”

“For the last time, my name is Church. I need your help. Piece together the fragments of that journal entry and look for any signs of deletion, corruption, anything that we could have missed before. Get Gamma to help you with it if you have to.”

“Understood.” The fragment blinked out, and Church looked on, past the dreams to what was being assembled in front of him.

He turned to the kid with the skateboard, “Theta, I need you to keep Carolina’s mind on other things. Get the twins on keeping her dreams in shape, and I want you to hide what we’re doing. Now.”

“You got it!” With that, Theta blinked out as well, and Church saw the heavens of Carolina’s mind flowing more smoothly, aided by Iota, Eta, and Theta.

“Gamma, Delta. How are we looking over there?” Church asked, seeing the fragments of video assembling more smoothly.

The electric blue figure turned to him and spoke in that grating computer voice, “Original sequence assembly at seventy five percent.”

“Okay, guys. Step it up. We don’t need to worry about the original sequence, just the end and what is missing.”

A gray shade appeared at his side, its voice low and rumbling, “This is pointless.”

“If I want your opinion, Omega, I’ll ask for it. Dismissed.” The figure blinked out. Church glanced up, watching the skies churning in Carolina’s mind. Theta was directing the twins well, and Carolina didn’t suspect a thing. She had stopped shifting, too, which could be a huge plus.

Delta reappeared at Church’s side, Gamma standing at the other. “Assembly of York’s final Journal entry complete. There does appear to be signs of deletion and corruption towards the very end. The memory unit was aged when I had last access to it, so that could provide for the corruption.”

“Okay,” Church said, examining the data assembled by the two fragments, “Gamma, you’re dismissed. Delta, I need you to start working on reversing the corruption. Use whatever memories you need, but don’t distract the three keeping Carolina out of our business. We don’t want to alert her until the time is right.”

“Understood, Epsilon,” Delta said before blinking out.

“My name is… fuck it, never mind,” Church said, patiently watching the extension of the video slowly being assembled. Delta worked carefully and logically, but he needed it done faster.

Church looked up at the twins and asked, “Do you guys have it under control up there?”

“Sure do,” the twins replied in unison.

Theta appeared by Church’s side and asked, “Do you need help with something?”

“Yeah. I need you to assist Delta in whatever way you can. Just make sure that the video is reassembled as well as possible.”

“On it!” Theta responded before blinking out, himself. After that, reversing the corruption moved along much quicker.

Church dismissed Theta and Delta, leaving himself to examine the reconstructed film, and he knew that he had to let Carolina see this.

“Alright, you lot, form up,” he said, clapping his hands. All around him, Gamma, Eta, Iota, Theta, and Delta all appeared. “Twins,” he said, “make sure that this is the prominent dream. Delta, begin playback.”

“Playback confirmed,” Delta responded. The dreams in Carolina’s mind parted to reveal York, somewhat deflated since the last message. He removed his helmet and sat down, letting out an exasperated sigh.

“Dammit… god dammit. Agent Foxtrot Twelve, journal entry number who the fuck knows. This isn’t for the records. Hell, I’m probably going to mess with the file so nobody can hear it afterwards, but I don’t care. I just need to say this for the world to hear if only for a few moments.”

Gamma spoke up at that moment, “Agent Carolina’s heart rate has increased drastically. Continue playback?”

“Keep it going. She needs to see this,” Church responded, his gaze fixed on the playback in Carolina’s mind.

York continued, looking over at the recording device, “That night at Errera was one of my best memories, Carolina. You had your hair tied up, and you wore a dress. That was the only time I saw you looking feminine, and I thought you looked just as beautiful that night as you did every other.”

The agent gave a bittersweet laugh, closing his eyes, a small smile working its way onto his face. “You got it. You knew. Everything made sense when you were around, and… I miss you.”

York stayed silent for a while before continuing. “I still remember everything about you, you know. How strong you were, how sweet you could be, the way you laughed the few times you did, the way you smiled the few times you did, how well you had my back and how nice your ass looked when I was covering your six…” Another laugh, this one much more lighthearted.

“I gave a damn about you. I still do. Not a day goes by when I don’t want to hunt down Maine for what he did, even if it means killing me. At least I could be with you again if I died. Maybe it’s not too far off, anyway.” He rested his hand on his helmet, taking it and rolling it in his hands as he drifted off one more time.

As one hand held the helmet, the other reached up to the back of his neck, where the AI was implanted, “I figured out what they mean, you know. About memory.”

“Heart rate increasing. Agent Carolina is becoming restless,” Gamma said, his monotone grinding on Church’s nerves.

“Continue the playback,” Church said through what would be gritted teeth if he had teeth to grit.

“They say that memory is the key,” York said, staring into the faceplate of his mask, “I thought it had some really abstract meaning or something serious and worrisome. I kicked myself when I figured it out. When people are gone, they are only as good as we remember them to be.”

York set the helmet back on the table next to him and stared right into the camera. “And more than anything else, Carolina, I remember that I love you.”

All the other dreams cut out and Carolina’s mind sprang to life with activity as she woke up. All the other AI fragments blinked out and Church made himself into a hologram outside Carolina’s body. “Whoa there! Are you feeling okay?”

She paused for a moment. “Yeah. Yeah I’m fine. Just a strange dream.”

Church couldn’t help but notice that her voice cracked a bit towards the end. “Thinking about someone?”

“York.”

“Oh. Well.”

“Did you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Mess with my head so I had that dream?” Carolina responded flatly.

Church figured that truth was about the best policy he could have in a situation like this, “Yes. I did.”

“So it wasn’t real?” She said, a bit deflated.

“I think that was one of the most real things I’ve seen in a long time, Carolina,” Church responded, his voice low.

“How do you figure?” Carolina asked, her voice a little bit riled now. She removed her helmet so she could stare Church directly in his holographic face, but her eyes were watering.

“It was at the end of that data file I showed you back when we visited York’s grave. It was corrupted beyond belief and I just… put it back together. It was him. He really said that, Carolina.”

“That… bastard,” she says with a laugh, lowering her head. Small droplets fell off her face and onto the helmet in her lap.

“Carolina, are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah. I’m fine. I’m just glad that I wasn’t the only one,” she said, looking back up at Church. “Thank you.”

“Anytime.”


End file.
